# Moderators making the infraction more clear in posts? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 21, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-making-the-infraction-more-clear-in-posts/525912 "2010-01-21T22:41:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-making-the-infraction-more-clear-in-posts/525912/21 "2010-01-26T19:37:05Z")
**twickster** said: > [@](#): > > That’s a pretty general answer, but it was a pretty general question. Are there specific instances where you perceive a lack of clarity? I thought I cited a specific instance of a lack of clarity. But maybe I’m wrong. I thought the issue was as much that the topic was a forum violation as that it was a hijack of the topic. The thread was spawning a heated religious debate in an IMHO thread. Was it just because that it wasn’t on topic of suggested readings? When I read the thread, all the moderator mentions in explanations is the hijacking, not the forum violation. But I got the impression the forum violation was the more salient point. Okay, looking at recent examples… How about this one? [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11983028&postcount=103](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11983028&postcount=103) tomndebb said: > [@](#): > > **Silverstreak Wonder** , you have now demonstrated that you have pretty much no knowledge of evolution–either in theory or in fact–that did not leap fully formed from the typewriters of Duane Gish, (in the most favorable light), or Kent Hovind, (in the more probable view). As such, now that you have demonstrated a complete failure to actually understand evolutionary theory, you are done in this thread. > > Feel free to open a new thread to discuss your beliefs, but there is no point in letting you hijack this thread with a lot of error filled drivel. Which spawned this thread: [“You’re too ignorant to post in this thread” – really?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=547490) **Boyo Jim** said: > [@](#): > > I just can’t recall seeing a mod do this before, simply tell someone they’re too ignorant to continue to post in a thread and tell them to leave. Where the OP didn’t think it was a hijack from the topic at all. **Skald the Rhymer** said: > [@](#): > > I am the OP of that thread, and I did not consider what Silverstreak Wonder did to be threadshitting. SW was being remarkably obtuse, perhaps even willfully so, but he or she was not off-topic. Now to be fair, I think **tomndebb** made a valiant effort at explaining in that thread, but certain people did not walk away from the original warning with a clear understanding. And like I said, **Silverstreak Wonder** has been repeating numerous times that mods are trying to stifle viewpoints, which arguable comes as much from his own predisposition as anything by the mods. Hmmm, several of the threads seem to be more about the role of moderators than about understanding what the moderators were saying. Maybe this isn’t as big of an issue as I thought. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-making-the-infraction-more-clear-in-posts/525912/22 "2010-01-26T20:41:13Z")
Hm, I think it’s also possible we’re using terminology slightly differently – in my mind (as a mod), a _warning_ is an official rebuke for rule-breaking, a rebuke that goes on the poster’s “permanent record.” A history of collecting warnings can lead to suspension, and, in some cases, banning, so warnings absolutely should be clear and specific. As the system currently works, the PM/email communicating the warning to the person who got it will point to a specific post and cite a specific rule – I thought you were concerned about people reading along in the thread not being clear about whether a warning was issued and for what. If, though, you’re using the word “warning” in a more generalized sense (or if the mod uses it too loosely, as Czarcasm admits he did in that case), what you’re saying isn’t what I actually responded to above. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderators-making-the-infraction-more-clear-in-posts/525912.md?page=1)